A couple projects around the house

The guys are working on the skim coat. For something as small as this, a skim coat was not needed or necessary; but I wanted to see how it would turn out. When we built the house I wanted "smooth" interior walls but could not find the right product at the time plus the wife said the "rougher" finish was common, I didn't like it but she was happy with it and I've honestly gotten to the point I don't notice it as much as I did years ago.

Other than landscaping and fixing my back yard I think the wife's next priority will be to sand down the Nipa hut and new varnish application...our couple of workers have some job security going forward.

Shawn

 

Some more pics from the past few days.

We discussed a concrete sink for the outdoor CR so this is what they came up with. No pics on the rebar for the sink as the ones the wife took came out badly, so I'm not even sure how they did the rebar but she says where was quite a bit of rebar and the workers have a clue on rebar now.. Same mix design as everything else so it should be stout. She wanted it free standing so it is attached to the 2 walls. I think I probably would have built it a bit different but this is the wife's project so she has free rein.

Also painted the exterior, a bit darker than I expected but looks OK. She also painted a couple of the interior walls with the banana crème colored paint. The walls by the sink needs much more work before paint.

Slowly coming together.

Shawn

 

A few pictures...short a couple tiles for the outdoor CR, I did not estimate that and looks like we will have to wait finishing the tiles as they are out of stock. The wife decided to wait until I get home to work the plumbing. They started working on sanding down the Nipa hut today, should bring new life to it once we redo varnish.

Looking forward to getting home soon to take care of some things we need to get knocked out.

Shawn

 

Got home at 0530 yesterday after what works out to be 7+ hours from Cebu to the house...so nothing close to work came out of me; short of unpacking.

The wife has our 2 workers on sanding and new varnish for the Nipa and some other bamboo furniture we have. Really bringing things back to life. We will have the guys working on the upstairs CR bamboo after that...other than helping me with plumbing for the outdoor CR which we'll start on pretty soon. I'll have our son work with me on pulling cable for the upstairs router and coax for the AFN decoder.

We have to go to Dumaguete tomorrow to pick up some Cat5, coax cable and a few other materials. I'm going to have to break down and buy an extension ladder as well...really would have preferred to rent one but am kind of stuck with things that we need to do.

You can see from the couple pics that my back yard is toast...may wait a bit to get past dry season before I re-sod.

Shawn

 

Shawn We installed a rain catchment system when we built our house. We poured concrete tank just as you are doing for the rain water. We located it under our wooden deck with an access hole thriugh both the deck and a concrete access for the tank.".......suggest you use a “p trap” on the pipe going into your concrete tank.....we had to add this feature later as the mosquitos were in the tank.
We use a submirgible pump which we simply drop into the tank and pump into several plastic barrels which are uphill from the house and then simply use a siphon method for use out of the barrels.
Our roof is corrugated galvanized with sac sac on top, makes a great looking roof but mainly the insulation value is awesome keeping the heat at bay but the rain water is discolored bwcause of the sac sac. At some point I will need to make a change to eliminate the colored water as we will start using the rainwater for our household use except for drinking and cooking.
We also have a great overlooking view here in Siquijor and we installed sliding glass doors to maximize the view. We used a glass contractor that put in some real junk and have already replaced some windows as the leaked badly, even after repairs, and blowing wind created a whistling sound that would keep you awake at night.
All the best on your project.

 

ShawnM wrote "The back side is solid (EVG panel) but ...." Can you tell me where you purchased your EVG panels? I've only been able to find them shipped from Manila....

Also, would you recommend your furniture/cabinet maker? Can you tell me his name and contact number?

 

Sorry for the late reply; just got back to the PI traveling from the US.

We got the EVG panels from Cebu and had them shipped here. Cebu Royal; 231-7772 or 232-0833 contact person was Terence Lim. This was a number of years ago so I can't say 100% that the contact info is still the same. Do highly recommend the EVG panels over going with block.

Furniture we normally go to the same person in Dumaguete, the number is 091-7316-6913. Very good rattan furniture.

I don't remember the name and number of the cabinet maker; their place is on the left on the highway outside of Tanjay going to Bais. Their work is good but takes quite awhile as they have many orders...especially doors.

Hope that helps.

Shawn

 

I have not previously heard of EVG - so the wall structures of a house can be fully constructed using them? I assume that makes construction faster? How about cost compared with using blocks - is it about the same or widely different in either direction?

 

The normal construction process here (and other places) is the concrete beam and column for your structure and the blocks are basically "filler" for your install, there is some structural component to them but let's be completely honest, the blocks here are garbage compared to what you see and the cost reflects that which is why the cement (rendering) gives them any strength at all.

Using EVG panels reduces your time, not just the installation compared to block but as well as installing electric, water and any communication lines. It is a wire mesh with Styrofoam...looks flimsy but you will render the panels similar to what you would do with the block here.

We were able to basically install all panels for the house in a couple days, some confusion to start with but once things got going it was pretty quick. Cost...very comparable with block but time (even with the labor costs here) it really makes so much more sense as you can do in a few days that could take a couple weeks.

If I was to build another house I would not think twice about using EVG panels even with the logistics of getting them here...if anyone is building and I'm here between projects I would be more than happy to give some insight beyond what is available on YouTube.

Shawn

 

Building here is the first time I saw structural stucco!